A New Path Opens
by DarkPoet89
Summary: What if Kakashi wasn't able to be a jounin instructor. What if a certain main branch member got her wish in the beginning. What if things were changed like nothing else. Eventual Naru/Hina and maybe other pairings. Rating may change as story goes on.
1. Your Jounin Instructor Is

"Are you sure, Lord Hokage?" The man said, afixing his armor. It felt like he'd just removed this armor, and here he was, putting it on once more.

"Yes, I was going to let you be stay as an instructor, but this mission requires my best men, and you are the best for the job. Also, I have this...from your father." The aged man removed a scroll from his robes, it held the symbol o fthe White fang, to this, the silver haired man's eye widened. "Hokage-sama, this is..." his tone exhasperated, as he looked to unravel it, but was stopped by the hand of the Elderly leader. He placed it within a pouch on his back and bowed deeply with respect. As he was allowed to raise his head, a question came to mind.

"Who shall train them? If not me?" This was when the Hokage's face went slightly down, and this gain an eyebrow raised from the soon to be once more ANBU captain. "Well...as no one else was more qualified...." His head turned as he propped open the window, just in time for a tumbling body to crash in and upright itself directly in front of Kakashi, who, as renowed as the copy-ninja who predicted all his enemies moves, was left with a baffled look in his visible eye as purple irises and matching hair looked back at him. "...you must be joking."

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It was the day after the graduation exams. New ninja were headed toward the academy and along with them was the last one anyone expected to be adorned with a hatai-ate. His yellow, spikey hair and blue eyes offset his face, which held three whisker marks on both cheeks. His orange jumpsuit was bright, and caused him to stand out in a crowd. This wasn't a good thing, as he was suppose to be a ninja, but he didn't let it bother him as a big, fox-like smile stayed plastered on his face.

_"I did it, I did it! I'm finally a ninja!"_ Naruto shouted happily in his head, and then ran downthe street, yelling it aloud this time. "NINJA! NINJA! I'M FINALLY A NINJA!" Several village members looked at the kid in disgust, with mutterings of how could they let such a thing become a shinobi. He didn't hear them, or didn't mind, as he reached the academy, with the confidence that this was the last time he had to walk through these doors as it's student. "Now'sthe time, I finally become a ninja, and I won't stop there. I'll become a top ninja, greater than any of the Hokages before me, and they'll all recognize me and respect me, believe it!"

"Outta the way, Dead Last!" Naruto didn' have time to react as he was knocked in the air by two Konoichi running him down, one with blonde hair in a ponytail with a bang hanging over the side, eyes similar to his, the other with bright pink hair and teal green eyes, the hair going down her back. They were shoulder to shoulder leaving a dust trail as they ran into the academy and toward their classroom, pushing eachother to get their first. After a struggle with the door, they slipped through what appeared to be the same time.

"I WAS HERE FIRST! NO YOU WEREN'T! YES I WAS!" their words simultanious from eachother. Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka, both argued and bickered as a battered Naruto Uzamaki held his head as he shrugged in. After a small talk with Shikamaru explaning why he was hear, he looked at his long time crush and waved to say hi, only to be pushed again as she moved past him toward a dark-haired, cold gazed boy.

"Hey Sasuke, can I sit next to you." She was immediately pulled into another fight with Ino, but they both stopped when they saw a pissed off Naruto land on the table in front of Sasuke, glaring at him in the eye. Both ignoring the angry group of fangirls to the side, Sasuke and Naruto held a glaring match for all of ten seconds. _"Sasuke, Sasuke. Why is it always Sasuke!"_ Naruto yelled in his head before a ninja behind them stood up suddenly and pushed Naruto forward. Naruto's eyes widened and he leaned forward, but something in the back of his mind told him to hold his hand up. It came up and grabbed Sasuke's shoulder as they both went back. They would've fallen too, had the desk above them hadn't been so close. Naruto and Sasuke sat frozen, as the room of fangirls gasped. Naruto and Sasuke's faces were almost touching.

"Naruto! What the hell do you think you're doing!" Sakura's fist came forward, and hit Naruto on the back fo the head. Naruto and Sasuke yelped as the gap was filled and their lips hit, mouths open. The room was full of gasp as the two boys were semi-frenching in front of them all. The two jolted back and gagged as if they'd eaten spoiled food, but Naruto paused as he felt a rise of killing intent behind him.

"NA-RU-TO!" The orange clad shinobi could only yell as he was beaten to a pulp by the rabid fangirls. Sakura hmphed in a pleased manner before she felt eyes on her. She looked around as the girls now had their eyes on her.

"What?"

"It was your fault dead last took Sasuke's fist kiss!" Even though she tried to defead herself, all the guys int eh room cringed as something intelligable was done to Sakura. When the smoke cleared, Sakura and Naruto in turn were sitting on the same row as Sasuke, but Naruto was battered and bruised, and Sakura, while physically, relatively, unharmed, had her handband have hanging down and hair frizzled, with a half-dead look on her face. The teacher walked in and looked around, after seeing Naruto and Sakura in a disheveled state, simply sighed.

"Alright, well you've all passed the graduation exam for this class. We will now assign you to three man cells and you'll be assigned to a jounin instructor." He picked up a list and scrolled through the names.

"First, Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzumi Kiba, and Aburame Shino." Hinata looked a bit dejected as her glance went to a certain blond, though Kiba grinned and Shino was indifferent behind his glasses.

"Nara Shikamaru,Yamanaka Ino." Ino suddenly looked very stunned, as Shikamaru said something in an impassive, but victorious tone. "and Akamichi Chouji" Ino's hands went up in the air in exhaperastion, then her head fell in defeat.

"Next, Uzumaki Naruto..." The blond that owned the name looked up "Haruno Sakura..." their was a cheer and a sigh of defeat "And..." before Iruka coudl get to the last student, a shinobi appeared next to him and whispered something in his ear "..Is that right? Well if it's the Hokage's orders....Sakura, it seems like you are to be joining Kiba and Shino's team and trading with Hinata. Is that alright?" Blond hair went down in a sigh, as the pink-haired Konoichi only blinked and shrugged.

"No, that's no problem sensei..." _**"YEAH! Now I won't be on the same team as that loser Naruto!"**_ Inner Sakura scream at the topof her voice, though Sakura showed none of the excitement. Hinata blinked before a shade of red covered her features, she was gonna be on the same team as Naruto! She felt that she could float in the air.

"Well now that that's settled, your last teammate will be...Sasuke Uchiha!" Both Naruto and Sakura made a face. Naruto's was a defeated one, his mind tell him _"I'm doomed..."_ Sakura's, though, was in shock, as her mind went a hundred miles a minute.

_"What!? How!? Sasuke was gonna be on our team and I just left it like that!? This is a disaster!_

_**"You baka! We gotta get back on that team! SHANNARO!"**_ "Sensei..." Sakura raised her hand before speaking. "May I ask why I was changed suddenly?" All the girl's except Hinata glared at her, but she didn't pay them mind. She was trying to get to _her_ Sasuke.

"It was the request of the jounin Instructor for their team. If you want, you can ask Naruto or the others why it was done after you're meeting with your instructors." He placed the remaining students in teams and afterwords informed them of when the instructors would be there, and class was dismissed.

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Two hours later, during which Sasuke and Naruto had an outs with eachother. Their they sat in their classroom. All the others had gotten picked up by their jounin Instructor, Sakura, when leaving, gave one last look back to Sasuke and Naruto, and felt like she was about to miss out on some amazing life changing adventure. All three genin sat at different levels, they each had different trails of thoughts, but after an hour, their thoughts were the same.

"Where is our Sensei!?"

Naruto finally decided to do something. Standing up, he ran over to the board and grabbed a chalk eraser. Hinata looked up as if to say something, but held her peace. Sasuke, on the other hand, took the role of the voice of reason.

"Get back here, Dobe, you're gonna get in trouble. Besides, no jounin would fall for that trick."

Naruto only grunted as he affixed the eraser on the door in a way where it'd fall when opened more. "They deserve it for coming to get us late. This is full pro-" just before he finished speaking, he felt something cool and metallic press against the side of his neck. He looked down nervously to see a kunai pressed against him, and sadistic smile that made him shiver as he was backed into the classroom. the eraser landing between the two.

"Nice trick, but unlike Kakashi, who'd probably just let it hit him, I'm not so nice." A purple haired woman wearinga trench coat was at the other end of the kunai, grinning like a mad woman toward the two still in their seats. "My name is Anko Mitarashi...welcome to hell..."


	2. Survival Exam?

Anko had brought the three Genin out to a rooftop in the village, letting each of them get situated properly. She looked from dark hair to blue hair, to blonde hair and thought of this interesting combination she'd created. One was about to ask something when Anko spoke up.

"While I'm not usually one for formalities, why don't we give each other a big hi and let each other know about one another. Hell, I'll even start." Anko pushed away from the railing and placed a hand on her hip, the other pointing to her chest proudly. "As I already told you, I'm Anko Mitarashi. My likes come from the joys of the interrogation division, also snakes and kunai. My dislikes, eh, not anything much concerning. As for my goals, well, know me long enough and you'll find out." Her never-ending smirk could put Naruto to shame, as the three in front of her presented her with dumbfounded looks complemented by sweat drops. "Ah...well, how bout we start with squinty over here."

Naruto looked around to see who she meant. Noticing that the other two were looking at him, and a vein popped on his forehead. "Squinty!" He just about shouted. Anko waved it away and he sighed, then remembered she'd asked him a question.

"My Name's Uzumaki Naruto. I love ramen, I hate Sasuke, my hobbies are making ramen, and eating at Ichiraku's. My dream...to be the greatest Hokage! Then everyone in the village will respect me!" Sasuke gave off a slight "Hn" while Hinata's face blossomed with a small smile at the announcement of Naruto's dream. Anko tilted her head as she listened, smirking at the last part "Bit of a mixed bag there, gotta watch how this kid works."

"Alright, next is pale girl." Anko look at Hinata, who jumped bit and pressed her fingers together.

"Ano...I'm Hyuuga Hinata of the main branch. I don't have very many dislikes, as I'm open to new things. I like a few things, including..." She paused giving a quick glance to Naruto, noticed by all but the dumb blonde. "My goals? I guess to be helpful as best I can as a shinobi." Hinata suddenly found the floor interesting and this didn't go unnoticed by Anko who frowned. "Jeez, good thing I took her from Kurenai, she definitely needs a confidence boost, and Ice Queen doesn't have the tact I got to do it."

"Alright duck boy, your turn." Naruto fell from where he was sitting and rolled in laughter, Hinata looked from Naruto to Sasuke who glared at the blonde and was about to turn it on Anko. He then realized he valued life and settled with a cold look of indifference.

"I am Uchiha, Sasuke. There aren't many things I like, and what I have isn't a dream, because it will happen. I will restore my clan, and kill a certain someone." His stony face had two certain loud mouths thinking the same thing "Who put a stick up his ass?"

"Well that's enough of that, now, let's talk about your first mission....a survival exercise" Anko's eyes glinted suspiciously, and even Naruto caught it, though her low laughter caught them all off guard. "Actually, it's a kinda test that you need to pass."

"Uhm, Anko-sensei, wasn't the graduation exam a test enough already?" At this, Anko laughed louder, which brought a questionable look to there faces. Kakashi had told her to do it this way, though this part gave her a real laugh as she knew how they'd react next. "Well guys, that's the thing, the academy was little kid games compared to being a Gennin. It's tough enough that we only allow, out of the twenty-seven that passed, for nine to actually become Gennin. This test is to weed out the losers. That means..." Her eyes gave a look of pure evil. "There's a sixty-six percent chance of failure. The losers, have to return to the academy to be retrained." Each held a different, but similar reaction:

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, his hands dropping from his face. His thoughts went straight to his goal_. "Back to the academy!? Like hell! I can't play kid shit anymore, I have to get stronger now!"_ He seethed at the idea of even looking at the academy again.

Hinata's stood there in silent shock, looking at the ground. She was sure she wouldn't make it, she was almost certain she'd be reporting her failure back to her father. The next moment she'd be on her butt, outside the Hyuuga compound, disinherited by her father, and that's only if he didn't feel like sealing her Byakugan.

Naruto's thoughts didn't have to be wondered about, they were heard.

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! I CAN'T GO BACK TO THE ACADEMY. I COULDN'T EVEN THINK OF TAKING OFF THIS HEADBAND AND-" he was cut when a kunai whizzed by his face, a thin line of blood drawing from it. He hadn't even seen Anko reach for her pouch. The next thing he knew, an arm hung from hsi shoulder, another Kunai at his throat. Anko licked the blood off his cheek and gave him a big grin.

"Trust me, you don't gotta worry about failing..." Her words of "reassurance did no such thing, as it felt like the end of that sentence was "If you don't pass, you'll simply die. Naruto sweated bullets, but she let him go and walked back to the front of them.

"Alright, the test is tomorrow at 8 in the morning. Don't be late...or I'll have to come and get ya." The sweetness in her voice in the last comment made the three Gennin be sure to get as much sleep as possible to not be late. Anko turned from them, with a wave, and disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"...What did we ever do to get a sensei like her?" Naruto asked, only getting silence as the other two couldn't give an answer and simply stood. They nodded to each other and went home, Naruto heading to his slum apartments, and each of the others to their clan houses, each in deep thought of what was to come to even think of conversing with each other.

**((Well, how's that, I would actually like some help in the comments. Would you rather Anko: (A) do an Anko version of the bell test. or (B) create her own...special, exam (one which may or may not scar them for life) Vote now!))**


	3. How the Hell is She our Sensei?

Flashback

_"You must be joking...Anko?" Kakashi Hatake, at the good age of 26, had had his fair share of pranks pulled on him. He'd even pulled a few himself, to Gai's chagrin. He'd had a laugh or two, but this? He felt like there should be a video camera and an idiot running out and saying "you got punk'd!". There was no smile on the Hokage's face though, and even though there was one on the purple haired and scantily dressed Konoichi, her eyes were telling the truth he didn't want to hear. She didn't give him the chance to voice his opinion as he simply saw the back of her head as she addressed the Leader of their village._

_"Anko Mitarashi reporting sir Hokage Sir!" She called out in enthusiasm. The hokage took a long drag of his pipe, reading the two in his office for a moment, before wording himself carefully. This, after all, could turn into a delicate situation._

_"Anko, as you know, I expressed need for you to become a Jounin instructor, despite the council's views on your...unique, personality and methods." She snickered at that. "However, while there are other jounin in the village, I felt you were probably the best one for teaching this cell. The paperwork was just finished this morning, as one of them held a special graduation process." He passed the folder over to Anko, who had long dropped the smile having felt the seriousness of the Hokage's tone. "This team was built on grades, abilities, and intelligence, and the chosen Jounin, Kakashi, being the first, and you the second choice, are for obvious and personal reasons."_

_Anko went into the pages, at first she didn't take note of them, but on word of the Hokage looked back. The first one was not much, besides her exceptional intelligence and Chakra control, which would make her a good, even great medic nin with the right training, but that wasn't her department. She flipped to the second one and the black hair and cold stare hit her first, taking in the rest of the face before seeing the name. Anko pursed her lips and was indeed surprised, but the biggest one was waiting for her on the next page._

_"Sir? You're giving me both...Uchiha and Uzumaki?" She stated slowly, more than anything, she was not one to put a brand on anyone. The village had mark these two cursed, while she knew they were simply unfortunate. The hokage nodded solomnly. "To Kakashi's name, he made an unspoken promise to make sure to train those two especially, though the council is against Naruto's becoming a ninja, they have no say in it. As for Sasuke, his mind is stable, though dark on the edges. He is need of some special attention as well."_

_Anko nodded, and scrolled through the three, their strengths, weaknesses, she couldn't see the jutsu they held, but one thing bugged her about the arrangement, and when something bugged Anko..._

_"Hokage-sama, I would like to make a change, I don't like the girl on this team." She got rid of it._

_"Er, the Jounin instructor can't very well remove a ninja from the rooster just from personal displeasure." Hiruzen was surprised, though he wasn't sure if it was because someone was question the ninja given to them or that the one in question, Anko, was actually expressing herself about it instead of doing things "her way" which for the poor soul involved came terrible circumstances._

_"Yeah, I know, but she's not really someone I can train. Sure, I mean, she has great chakra control and all, but her overall ninjutsu skills are low." Sarutobi was thoughtful for a moment. Jounin, no matter how eccentric, all knew good ninja when they saw them. Anko said she couldn't train Sakura and if she said that, that meant Anko wouldn't be able to do much for the girl. She'd make Chunnin at best with the other two helping her, but to be sure, Anko wasn't the best one to help this girl and her sunny disposition._

_"Well, Anko, what do you suppose we do then? Who shall be your third teammate." Anko answered almost before the Hokage was finished talking._

_"Trade with Kurenai." Her answer was short and she stuck her tongue out, like she was suggestion a trade in cards. Kakashi, whom is still here, we must not forget, was a bit stupefied and floored by the goings on of this meeting. He knew he'd have to train sakura's reserves, but to just switch her out for the Hyuuga girl. Then again, with Anko as Hinata's teacher and Kurenai as Sakura's..._

_Sarutobi was less floored, having known Anko on a more personal note then the other ninja, he knew her quirks and oddities. This wasn't an outlandish condition, but he took time to think on it. "I shall call Kurenai here, by the time the ninja are assigned to their teams, we shall have the answer." That was all that Anko needed, she waved to the two, pulled down Kakshi's headband to cover both his eyes, and jumped out the window. "I'll find out when I go to the class later, oh Kakashi, meet me after you finish up with Ojii-san!" Now that the formal mission was done for her, she relaxed her formalities, the little she had anyway._

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The Sun was just peeking through the sky, being about 7:30 in the morning, when three shadows walked onto the training ground they were suppose to meet up on. They were ragged, stumbling onto the field, the words of the sadistic woman getting to all three of them. Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuuga Hinata, and to a lesser extent, Uchiha Sasuke, were all near dead tired, and showed it. Naruto used a hand to guide him forward, Sasuke, in his ever brooding form, had his hands in his pockets and Kept his appearance cool. Hinata had one eye half open, the other closed while she used a half closed hand to rub sleep from it, a small groan coming from her lips.

As they met up in the middle, only Sasuke stopped right away, Naruto and Hinata moved forward and found a wall in each other, nearly falling to the ground. As Hinata fell back, Naruto's energy decided to kick in and he leaned forward, an arm going around her back to catch her.

"Are you alright, Hinata?" Naruto asked with slight concern, now his eyes opening to normal levels. Hinata, still half asleep, brought her arms aroudn his neck to pull herself up, mumbling a thanks, before staring into the blue orbs of his.

_"Naruto..."_ She thought dreamily, taking a deep breath and leaning up slightly closer. Reality splashed her hard on the face as her brain caught up and her eyes shot fully open. Let the records hold true that Hinata's face found a new shade of red as she apologized and jumped up, looking away from Naruto as her bangs hid her eyes and she pressed her fingers together. "What was I about to do!?" Her mind berated her, telling her Naruto might think her weird for what she was thinking.

To Naruto's chagrin, not as dumb as he makes himself, he at least was observant to what had happened. _"Was she about to do what I think she- nah! She's doesn't think of me like that, she was half tired and probably thinking of some other guy...like Sasuke-teme!"_ During that last part he looked up at the Uchiha, who hadn't spoken a word about what just transpired, his onyx orbs telling none of his mind's secrets.

"Alright you wimps, enough time wasting! Time to get things started! A large gust of wind erupted in front of them, almost knocking them off balance. At it's center, their wild Jounin sensei grinning at them, the evil look in her eye undeniable eventhis early in the morning. Even Naruto had the same thought as the two of the others

_"How does she have that much energy this morning!?"_

"Nice work gettin' here Gakis, just to let you know, I would've personally hunt you down if I got here before any of you." They all mentally breath a sigh of relief as they escaped a fate worse then death. They looked up as she had more to say. "Well now that that's over, I'll tell you about your survival test...It's a manhunt, and I'm the hunter."

Now, if it wasn't for the fact that Sasuke was too broody, Hinata too shy, and Naruto too tired, they might have sweatdropped right there. As it were, they were too scared to do so anyway. Manhunt? By definition it meant to hunt down, incapacitate, or, as they guessed was her preference, kill a target. Even Sasuke had to reconsider being this woman's student

As if she was reading their minds. "Don't worry Gakis, I'm not gonna kill ya. Here's how things work: At noon today, I'll be having lunch, if you want lunch, you have to 'survive' me hunting you. You have to run, fight, and basically survive until then." She stopped to gauge the reaction from the three of them before continuing. "Hey, I'm not a bad person...most of the...some of the..ok, let's skip that. I'm just gonna give you a chance. I still haven't eaten or done my morning stretches. I'll do all that and give you 10 minutes after that before I start to chase ya." They all relaxed a little, think they could win in this case.

"Oh, did I mention, at 10, I'll have a friend come around who's an expert tracker? He'll be here around 10 and start calling you out every 5 minutes. I hope you don't mind. Welp, you better get going...unless you want me to come for you now...." A kunai was in her hand out of nowhere, and they didn't need another hint, they all started running into the forest. She grinned, and sat down on a nearby rock, promptly pulling out the dango she had hidden. _"Run and hide...I'll get ya before it's over..."_

About 45 minutes later, Anko was wiping some dango left overs from her mouth, licking her lips as well. She could sense to of the gaki still running around, while the third, she guessed being the Uchiha, had almost completely disappeared for the moment. _"Heh, not bad, guess that's why he got rookie of the year..."_ Anko jumped off the trees and landed in a small clearing. As she stopped she leaned to the side, two kunai flying past her head. She looked over to see a bright orange jumpsuit and a sweatdrop formed on her head. "Gaki, you do know I'm hunting _you_ right?" Her hands in her coat pockets, Anko just watched as the kid got a big grin on his face.

"Heh, I not running anymore! My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I'm gonna be Hokage someday so I can't dream of letting someone scared me into a corner! I'll fight you head to head!" He stated boldly. From her hiding spot, Hinata had the mind to sweatdrop, but she smiled lightly. _'It's a bit foolish, but he's brave, I have to admit."_

Anko was thinking along the same lines as she hadn't removed her hands. "Kid...aw hell, I'll bite, but I don't know about you. I don't even need to use my hands in this..." This had the desired effect, pissing Naruto off. He growled at her and dashed forward recklessly, going for a wild Haymaker. Anko waited until he jumped up and ducked below him, his fist sailing way above her. She then spun on her left foot and brought the other kicking him in the back. He hit a tree but bounced back surprisingly, with a roundhouse. Anko brought her knee up and blocked with her shin guards, balancing on one foot as Naruto's half-assed attacks couldn't touch her, which pissed him off more, and made him more sloopy.

"Gaki, give up, it'll be decades before you can even touch me..." That was it! Naruto crouched down, but then a grin struck his face as he lept up for a spin kick. Just as he did, a second Naruto appear below the first, a righ tfist about to hit her stomach. Anko brough ther knee up to block the lower Naruto, and caught the jumpign Naruto with her left hand, a bit surprised by the tactic.

"Hey what happened? Thought You didn't need you hands to take me?" Naruto grinned, as Anko found out this had been his plan from the start. She scoffed and simply slammed the first Naruto down on the other, thinking of having at least one out cold Gaki. To her surprise both disappeared in a cloud of smoke, and she looked around, sensing no more attacks coming her way. _"Well, he gets points for being a sneaky bastard at least."_

Hinata, having watched Naruto with her Byakugan, smiled to see him at least get away from their...incorrigible sensei for the moment. She noticed Sasuke had been watching from a vantage point as well and got up to look for them both. After that display of pure taijutsu, they'd need to stick together to even stand a chance. Hinata was ready to sneak away when she felt something on her legs. She looked down to see a vast array of boa constrictors slithering around her feet and a few up her legs. She stood stock still for a few seconds, and almost screamed outright as one reached her thigh. She caught herself because of the radius of Anko-sensei, and attempted to get them off. As she swiped at them, they hissed and manuvered out of the way, getting higher and higher up. She tried to run but some of them were wrapped around her feet, holding her in place.

She 'eeped' when she felt one sligther into her Jacket, and began to squirm vividly. The leathery skin of the serpents wriggling inside her clothes, touching her skin, made her feel queasy, uncomfortable, and a bit violated. "No...no...I have to get out of here..." She looked down at her jacket, as the snakes reached her chest, two going up her sleeves. Her byakugan activated to get a good look, but it made it easier and came out from in front of her shirt, it's tongue lapping against her neck. She gritted her teeth and looked at it, as it met her face level, and that's when she noticed it. Slowly, and carefully, she deactivated her clan's jutsu and brough ther hands up, forming the ram seal. She formed her words just as slowly, as she was almost in fear of speaking.

"K...k-kai..." she whispered, the snake jerked back in repulsion, but was still there. She gritted harder and put more force into it. "...Kai!" She halted her chakra, and the snakes vanished, all from her arms, legs, and, most assuring, her jacket. She looked down to see a small snake looking up at her, before crawling away. She fell to her knees, the breath she didn't know she was holding was released, but then she had a sinking feeling.

"Good work, but game over..." Hinata could only widen her eyes as their jounin sensei swooped down from above. She was sure she was done for as the wild woman pounced toward her, that is, until a barrage of Shuriken blocked the predator from its prey. Anko looked up and pulled out a kunai, knocking down most of the shuriken before twisting in the air to dodge the rest. Landing near Hinata, she looked up to see Naruto, and surprisingly, Sasuke, jumping from a tree winding up for a hit. Anko jumped up a tree and grinned as Naruto checked on Hinata, Sasuke gave them a glance and glared up at Anko.

_"Both of them went up against her, though I doubt she was even trying they still took her on...it's my turn." _Sasuke threw a wave of Shuriken, which Anko dodged, but Sasuke predicted it and jumped up to meet her in the air with a spinning kick. The kick surprised even Anko with how fast he got to her, as she blocked it with her arm. Sasuke kept her arm in check as he wrapped himself around and went for a punch to the gut, which she blocked with her shin guard. He used he free foot for a second kick, but she opted to kick back and break them away from the clash. They were still in the air, when she caught sight of him just in time to see him land on the tiger seal _"No...way..."_

**"KATON! GOUKAKKYUU NO JUTSU!" **The last of the Uchiha brought his hand to his mouth, a stream of fire erupting as it flew toward her, apparently engulfing her in flames. Sasuke poured on the heat until he thought she was caught, but as he looked through the flames, he only saw a burning log falling to the ground "Substitution!?" He looked up just in to see four cobras springing out of Anko's sleeve toward him, and he couldn't dodge in mid air.

**"KAGE BUSHIN NO JUTSU!"** Naruto leapt in the air and shoulder charged Sasuke, the snaked flew into Naruto, pinned his limbs, and slammed him against a nearby tree, but there was a resounding 'poof' as that Naruto disappeared in a cloud of Smoke. Anko sucked her teeth as she landed to deal with them, but looked around to see them all gone.

"Well now, they might be starting to get it...but it's just getting fun...just about ten now..."

**Yes, I know, I almost made Hinata wet herself...and I enjoyed every minute of it -evil laughter-.**

**By now you're curious as to who her friend is. Some of you already guessed right, and you'll find out later on in the next chapter.**

**Probably another question is how come I'm not bashing anyone? Well, I don't need to bash anyone. I prefer my small snides and jokes at their expense, but I'm not gonna go too far from how, at least in my opinion, their character's should be. Trust me, right now, they're all afraid of Anko, and they're not even focused on the goal, or teamwork...they just wanna live, mwahahahaha!!!**

**comments, suggestions, and hell, flames to keep my bed warm are all appreciated.  
**


	4. Survive the Survival Exam

Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata were breathing heavily, almost out of breath. Thanks to Hinata, they were able to avoid jumping out of the training ground while staying away from their deranged Sensei. Naruto shivered from the tell tale feeling of snake bites on his skin, though he couldn't figure how. Sasuke was more surprised by the fact that not only was he still traveling with the two on his team, but was saved by the dobe of all people. Hinata was watching the ground, making sure no snakes were going to sneak up on her for another Genjutsu.

"We can't just keep running away..." Naruto breathed quietly to the two, Hinata didn't answer.

Sasuke only scoffed "Dobe, what can you do? She's going easy and we're getting murdered. I'm the only one who's even got a shot." Naruto reared back to say something but something hit him on the head. He looked up to see a Ninja in Anbu gear, looking down at them. His Hair was a silver color that defied gravity,and his mask was half on, covering his left eye. The rest of his face was in a mask except for his right eye, which looked down at them. He raised a hand, and before they could move, Their Purple Haired Sensei was next to the Anbu.

"Nice work Scarecrow, time to work!" The three new ninja jumped Up, Naruto and Hinata getting met in the air by Anko, while Sasuke was knocked into a tree by the Anbu. Sasuke's used a fire jutsu on him, but he disappeared, With no one helping him, there was no escaping the follow up round house from his blind sight, and Sasuke realized this.

_"Damnit! if it's like this, Itachi will do the same thing, and it'll be even worse." _He used another fire jutsu as a diversion as he moved toward the others.

Naruto and Hinata weren't fairing any better. Hinata wasn't even able to enjoy being next to Naruto, as the woman's fierce taijutsu was pushing them both back. Naruto didn't even have the chance to use his Shadow clones as he noted she was even faster then before. He grit his teeth and went for a spun kick, only for Anko to duck and kick Hinata away at the same time. Naruto went for a hook only to find she had disappeared.

"Blame Kakashi for this one..." Anko's hands went into the tiger seal as she knelt behind the orange clad ninja. Even as Hinata cried out, Naruto didn't stand a chance. "Konoha sacred technique, ONE THOUSAND YEARS OF DEATH!" Naruto went flying to another part of the woods, just as Sasuke came into view to try to help him. The Anbu seemed to be sitting where he fought Sasuke, counting. Hinata got into her Gentle Fist taijutsu stance as Anko turned to her. "Don't worry, I won't poke ya in the butt, it's time for round two pale girl..."

As Naruto went flying he hooked a tree with his hand, spinning off balance into the air. He lande awkwardly as Sasuke landed next to him.

"Damn, we're getting murdered here. How are we gonna survive for another hour?"

"You'll have to figure that out." The silver haired Anbu punched Naruto in the stomach, but that left him open for Sasuke's jump kick. He blocked it with his free hand, and tried to toss Naruto, but Naruto held on tight. The Scarecrow grined and spun around, tossing them both to either side of him. Naruto fell into the brush, and two shuriken fell out immediately afterwards. The Anbu caught them with two fingers and threw them at Sasuke. Sasuke ducked and charged, just as five Naruto's came from the other side. The white haired Anbu got ready, only for a sixth Naruto to catch him from behind, pinning him down.

"Let's get you back for catching us..." Before he could finish Hinata came flying from where she and Anko was fight. By the time he focused back on Kakshi it was Sauske in his hands, and Hinata hit them both. The shadow clones all gapped but were quickly eliminated by both Jounin. The three Gennin were on the ground, aching, but a thunderstorm was quite literally brewing, as Anko and her partner came into view.

"Alright, Gakis..." She's lifted up her hand, several glowing eyes up her sleeve. "Game over...you...!" The snakes shot out, fangs open. Just before they reached the three, a loud bell rang, everything stopping. The three gennin opened their eyes, to see a snake hovering above them. Anko was still poised, and seemed to be mulling over something, before finally giving them a shit eating grin. "A little rough on the edges, but ya got guts. Eh, why not, passed." the snakes disappeared back up her sleeve as the three of them realized what she said. The Anbu covered his face with a mask once more before disappearing.

"Yes, I did it, I did it! I'm a ninja! A real ninja!" Hinata smiled shyly at her crush's outburst, while Sasuke gave a smirk of his own. Anko's face turned serious. "Do you know the secondary reason for this exercise was?" They gave her blank looks, though Hinata and Sasuke looked thoughtful. "It was to test your ability to work as a team." Understanding dawned, but so did a few more question. "It was set up,. so you'd naturally attempt to fight against each other, to be the surviver of the test, and go it alone. You did that at first. Naruto, you tried to take me on all by yourself, whether it's to prove something or not, you shouldn't rush in foolishly, I could've killed you the moment I saw you.

"Hinata...actually nothing too wrong with you. You fought well, and realized the genjutsu around you. Though, you might have been able to see through it faster if your attention wasn't...diverted." Hinata blushed beet red to this.

"Sasuke, you realized this, at least I think. Just like Naruto, you can't do everything alone. Unlike Naruto though, you didn't do it to prove yourself, but because you thought you were already better then those two, and didn't need anyone else's help. I hope you realized your mistake right?" A solemn nod and scowl came from the last Uchiha. Anko's turned to all three of them. "Don't abandon your team. Teamwork in this day and age is the difference between coming back successful, or not coming back at all. Lone wolves more then likely die alone, and those who don't take care of their teammates, their comrades...their friends...they are traitors...they are trash."

Everything was silent as what Anko said sunk in. Team seven all had theeir own thoughts and inner responses, but after a moment their sensei put back on her shit eating grin. "Well now, that's it for today, get those lunches. Eat, sleep, hell get drunk and get laid. You're ninja now, we begin official missions tomorrow morning!" With that and a 'chao' Anko disappeared in a swirl of leaves. The adventures of Team 7 were about to begin.

**Author's note: I needed some of the story content just because 1) You can't go far without some of that life changing stuff. and 2) You gotta admit, pokin Naruto in the bum is hella fun.**

**Now, I need opinions: Should they go to the land of waves? Either or, after that they will have an original C rank mission, and an original B to A rank. also, what should I do if I do go on the Wave mission, should I have Haku and Zabuza dead? Alive? Haku's Gender? other pairings ideas please!?  
**


	5. No More Dranks!

"No more missions!?"

Now, being the good age of 73, the Sandaime Hokage, leader of Konohagakure, village hidden in the leaves, he's ben through some surprising things. Between his three students leaving the village for their own personal reasons, to his successor dying and returning him to his job and the horrible paperwork, he's been through it all. This, however, was an entirely new ballgame. Anko Mitarashi, Konoha's snake mistress and all around assassin queen, didn't want to do a mission!? "You'll have to excuse me, in my old age, my hearing must have lost some of its sharpness, but did you say you don't want anymore missions?" The hokage said, withholding his thoughts that this was borderline treason.

"I mean, no more D-rank missions, Hokage-san." Sarutobi relaxed a little, but then tensed more when he realized what this meant. "I think we're ready for a C-rank, sir." Naruto's exasperated relief of finally getting a real mission was cut short by Iruka, who stood up to comment.

"Anko, while I'm sure you've done a good job with them, They can't possibly be ready for a mission, you haven't completed enough D-ranks for them to be." Iruka was saved from Anko following glare by the limit-reached naruto.

"Iruka-sensei! We're more than ready! We've been training like crazy so there's no way we aren't! How can we show we're real ninja by doing yard work and walking dogs. If I have to catch that cat oen more time…" Anko put a hand in front of him, as the Hokage was about to talk.

"Anko, are Naruto's claims of training to be believed, you've gotten them into top condition?" To that, Anko only grinned.

* * *

"Alright Gakis, I've taken a checklist on your abilities, and We'll be working on your weaknesses, and then your strength. First, we're gonna go for weaknesses. Blond Gaki," Naruto jumped at this, being the only blond in a mile radius, elsewhere Ino sneezed just as Chouji was rolling toward her. "You're pretty sneaky, I like that, but your taijutsu is horrible. Serious, were you earning your deadlast title or was someone trying to…" she trailed off, her last words "get you killed" were caught by Naruto, but Sasuke and Hinata were perceptive and could tell something wasn't right.

"…Anyway, I'll be teaching you two taijutsu styles. My own family style, and the Hebi style, though you may not be able to use it fully. Lavender Gaki, you'll also be learning hebi, and no questions about what if your dad doesn't like it, I'm your sensei and you'll learn it." Hinata nodded solemnly and Anko privately added to up the girl's confidence as much and anyway possible. She turned to Sasuke who hadn't said a word, but she could tell was curious.

"Don't worry Black Gaki, I won't be teaching you a fighting style, but a weapons style. You got a weapon you like?" Sasuke nodded, there was a chotoko in his family's possessions (the one he has in time skip. Screw snake teme) He'd known he'd need some lessons to even wield it. Anko looked at Naruto again. "You'll be learning a weapon style too…"

"Um…I don't know any weapons I like…" Naruto said lamely, of course he wouldn't know. The demon container knowing proper taijutsu would've been bad, but to know a weapon style, even worse.

"Don't worry, you can keep looking around, you'll find something you like." Anko finished with something akin to a caring voice, but from Anko that was impossible. She felt the chakra signature of the Copy Ninja nearby, so she sighed and continued. "Let's keep goin', You two," she singled out Sasuke and Hinata "Will be learning Ninjutsu, some snake jutsu will complement your fighting style Hyuuga girl" _"and rid you of your fear of snakes" _She added in her head. Hinata might have said she was fine, but eyed the viper Anko hung off her arm after their survival exercise, as if expecting it to attack. Even now, the pale sinned girl paled even further upon hearing she'd be working with snakes.

"Oh, we won't be stopping except for the occasional mission, and even then we'll be training during the missions. I don't want to do another D-rank after this month, so work hard, got it!?" They gave her a stiff nod, before taking two steps back when they saw her lower herself into a stance.

* * *

Each one of them held their own memories of the month's events: Sasuke felt like he'd dodged so many blade swipes his sharingan should've activated by now. Naruto could still feel the bruises from last week, and he was suppose to heal fast. Hinata got over her fear of snakes, but what she had to go through to do it she would never tell anyone, not even Naruto. They all lamented this the same way though as they stood in the Hokage's office, they shuddered visibly. Sarutobi noticed this and gave a questioning look to Anko, who blinked in confusion then sighed.

"They're not mentally tramutized, I promise." _'At least, not permanently' _She mentally added. The Hokage took a moment to think it over before sighing.

"I suppose it's time you went through a decent C-rank. I'll give you a body gaurding mission at the least." Naruto cheered and hugged Hinata in his happiness, who froze up with a blush, but at least she didn't faint. She came back around just in time for the Hokage to call in their client. An old drunker came in and looked down at the three.

"These brats are it? They can't possibly protect me, hell, I might even have to protect them." When Anko said 'Welcome to Hell' she ment it in more ways then even she knew.

**AN: Sorry it's so short, I had a more discriptive version of the training session, but I lost the chapter and had to redo it. Reveiw and comments plz**


	6. The Snake vs The Demon

"Are we there yet?"

"N-not yet N-naruto-kun."

"Hn"

the repetition was starting to urk her more than a bit, and the fact that it made Sasuke seem more pissed off by the second was only a small plus to the situation. They had only been out for a few hours and the enthusiasm the blond jinchuuriki held at the start of their mission had lessened pretty fast when nothing had happened so far. The mission that had to Wave Country was not far, matter of fact if they were allow to move at a normal pace they could reach their destination in half a day's travel. Currently, with a civilian traveler, they would be lucky to reach Wave by afternoon tomorrow. Anko was sorely reminded of the parameters of her first real mission with the gennin

_"You mission, Team Seven, is to escort our client from here to his home in Wave Country, a simple C-rank mission where you protect him from bandits and thieves." Naruto looked from the Hokage to the old man, and fumed._

_I am Tazuna, the bridge builder, I'll expect you all to guard me with your lives, though I don't know what these pipsqueak can do, the half pint probably doesn't even know the sharp side of a kunai." Anko moved quick, grabbing the back of Naruto's collar in mid jump, as he scrambled to take off the guy's head._

_"Naruto, you kill our client, and I kill you." She replied casually, but what got Naruto's attention was the snake that hissed behind his neck. He chuckled nervously and went limp, allowing Anko to put him back on the ground without foul. Tazuna simply put his jug of sake back to his lips, as his face reddened. The group sweat dropped, and truly wondered if this was worth their first C-rank._

Anko was wondering this once again as she noticed the conversation ahead was going sour.

"Look Dobe, if we're still walking, and you don't see a shore ahead, then we're not there." Sasuke snapped at Naruto, who opened his eyes completely to glare at the Uchiha.

"Yeah well who asked you!? I was talking to Hinata, teme!" He barked out, which made the black haired prodigy ready to start the argument higher, but he noticed something. Hinata and Anko did too, as did Naruto but he was too into the argument to give it more thought. Sasuke huffed and moved closer to Naruto.

"Dobe, shut it before I shut you up." But the look on his face told Naruto everything he needed to know. After a few steps more, they heard the sound of metal clinking together, and looked back to see two Nin standing on either said of their sensei, with a chain tied around her. The chain links were pointed and sharpened to cut through flesh.

"That's one down!" One of them said, as they pulled, the chain winding as it riped through the Jounin, turning her into shreds that dropped to a heap on the ground. The group was shocked to say the least, their teacher, taken down so quickly. The Nin were quick to take advantage of their shock, and moved to their next target, which was easy to spot. "Here's two." The brother, as they were twins, said as they both appeared behind Naruto, who looked to be frozen stiff. The chain, connected by their claw, was coming toward him, ready to give him death, ready to end his life.

"Heh."

Naruto's scared expression suddenly turned into a grin, as he swiftly ducked, and a shuriken flew by where his head was a moment ago, hitting the chain and embedding itself into the tree. Both brothers looked toward the perpetrator, it was Sasuke Uchiha, whom was in the air headed for them. They didn't have much time to think about it as the girl, whom they'd ignored because of her quiet demeanor, whipped out a kunai faster than they could see and hit her mark, right within the hole of the shuriken, and effectively making sure the brother's weapon wasn't going to be going anywhere.

"Damn brat's we're gonna-" He couldn't finished as he was answered with a foot to the face, as Naruto and Sasuke had jumped onto the claws that connected the chain together and delivered thrust kicks that sent both brother's flying. The chain snapped, and disconnected, letting both brothers run toward other targets, One brother headed toward Naruto, the other heading straight toward the bridge builder. Hinata moved in the path of the nin, and both her and Naruto shifted into a fighting stance at the same time. Naruto slipped into the assassin's guard and threw a punch straight toward his neck, the quick jab hitting the man's esophagus and causing him to go to his knees. Hinata hit the other with three Juken strikes, whom didn't exactly feel it and swung at her. Hinata stepped in to avoid the claws he brandished and put up a block, taking the glance from his metal guard and sliding away.

Naruto was just moving to help Hinata were he heard movement behind him, the other brother already in mid-lunge, too close for Naruto to stop him. Just before he got there, Sasuke slammed down onto the guys open back, putting him to the ground. They both nodded and looked to help, but they could get their fast enough. Time slowed down, but just before those claws could dig into the bridge builder, a viper flew from no where and wrapped around the nin several times, before biting into his shoulder. He shuddered, twitching once, before collapsing onto the ground. All still standing followed the snake, until they saw Anko, crouched into the tree with a smug grin on her face.

"I think that's just about enough play time." She spoke calmly, but with an undertone of annoyance. Naruto blinked, and looked toward where Anko had been cut down, seeing a few snakes huddled around there. Sasuke snorted, thinking he had everything under control, while Hinata breathed a sigh of relief, though she was a bit saddened that she wasn't able to stop the nin herself. Anko jumped down, walking over to the ninja and patting him on the head. "No worries, the snake bite is special, it only paralyzes you...though, it only starts below your neck, allowing you to spill your guts to me quite nicely." Her grin turned sadistic, and the man felt his very life was in peril, which it pretty much was. Anko grabbed him by his collar and drug him into the forest, calling back that she'll only be a few minutes. They heard a few strangled cries and even Tazuna sobered up with the thought of what she might be doing, most of his thoughts probably not even close. She came back out with a satisfied smile, which turned into a glare as she entered the area.

"Is there something you'd like to tell us, Tazuna_-san_?" She put emphasis on 'san' to let him know she had the info she needed. Tazuna gulped a bit before his mouth opened like a dump truck, all the garbage he'd been hiding coming to the forefront. It was only when he got to the man who was trying to have him killed Anko held up a hand, and put her othre to her head. "Whoa whoa, Gatou? Gatou of Gatou's shipping company?" He nodded in response. "Ok, we're going home."

"What!?" The blond Gaki to her side exclaimed. "You can't do that! We're in the middle of the mission already!" Naruto raged on it, she expected Sasuke to tell him to shut up, but Sasuke seemed to want to agree with him. Hinata, of course, even without having to know the sad story of the land, which she did now, would have backed Naruto up in a minute if asked, albeit quietly. Anko looked from one to another and ran through her choices in her mind. _'I'm so gonna get busted back to Chunnin for this.'_ She thought Sadly.

"Alright, I see...you three are sure about this huh? I really don't think you're ready."

"You'll never know until you give us the chance." Sasuke spoke up, surprising her that he formed a whole sentence without grunting. She whacked her forehead "Fine...we'll take the old man home." She sighed, she might be an assassin, but....argh, damn kids. Naruto smiled in triumph and bounced ahead, while Sasuke walked quietly in step with their charge. Hinata was about to follow when Anko place a hand on her shoulder. "Hinata, I wanted to talk to you about the fight."

Hinata's eyes widened in dread. Anko-sensei was going to lecture her on how she messed up. She didn't protect the bridge builder and Anko-sensei had to cover for her mistake. She closed her eyes, ready for the punishment, which may be physical as well, come to her. What she didn't expect, though, was the warm hand on her head, not pulling her hair, but ruffling it affectionately. "Good work Hinata, you held that ninja back with all you learned. Stepping into the blunt side of his claw instead of jumping back and risking the poison. You show tactical thinking worthy of a shinobi, good work."

_"Good Work." _The words hit through him like lightning. No one's ever given her such an easy, yet hard to earn, compliment. She was sure this was going to be her resignation from being a ninja, but Anko-sensei put praise in her. The Jounin was not known in any part of Konoha to lie to make people feel better. She took the praise and figuratively wrapped it around herself, visibly her blush went from embarrassed to content. Anko wondered why Hinata looked so satisfied, but stopped before her train of thought ran that track. She placed a hand on Hinata's shoulder and guided her until she came out her stupor. SHe looked up at Sasuke and Naruto

"HEY GAKIS! Get your asses back here before you get our client killed!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(cannon events until Zabuza attacks)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Get down!" Anko tackled the bridge builder to the ground, the others diving (or flopping, it some people's cases) as a gigantic sword flew over head, slicing halfway into a tree and staying there. A shadow passed over head and landed on the handle of the blade, looking back at them. He had dark skin, striped pants, army camo forearm covers, the lower have of his face was wrapped in bandages and his hai, donned with the mist symbol sliced through the center, was on sideways, the end tails billowing in the wind. He stood there with a calm appearance, but anyone with even the slightest ninja ability could tell: He would kill them without a single word.

"Well well, I was at first angered the Demon Brothers lost to a bunch of kids, but now I see why they would have a problem." He looked directly at Anko, who still stood calmly, her hand on a hip. "You were their opponent, so I'm not surprised, Viper Strike Anko." She gave him a shit-eating grin at that point, but did say anything. "In the bingo book you have a kill on sight order. It also notes that, if she's seen you first, then you're probably already dead." She chuckled a bit, as her students were disturbed by the fact that she found it amusing in the first place.

"Well now, I see my reputation proceeds me, Demon of the Mist." Zabuza's eyebrows rose at that (and yes he does have them, they're just very thin.)

"So I'm in your bingo book too eh? Now it's interesting, I wonder how I'll fair against the apprentice to a Sannin." Sasuke's ears perked at that, he didn't know she was apprenticed to a Sannin.

Zabuza reached down grabbing the handle of his blade, before kicking off the tree toward the lake. If alone, Anko would have jumped after him in midair, but she couldn't abandon her team or her client. _"Damn, this is why I don't like protection missions." _"Get into formation!" They all responded immediately, forming a triangle in front of Tazuna so they could look in all directions. The Mist Nuke-nin landed in the center of the water, one hand in the half rat sign, while his other arm with the two first fingers are pointed to the sky. The Chakra around him builds up, expanding into a thick mist.

**"Kirigakure no Jutsu!" **Zabuza faded and then vanished, in the mist, without a trail. This disturbed Team 7, and made Anko cursed her luck silently. It was a known fact that Itachi Uchiha was the best eyes in the Anbu, even without his Sharingan, a grudging respect held among it's members. Kakashi was number two, having had sharp vision before the incident with his team. Anko was a little ways under third, probably forth. Even training with the snake, with her eyes able to see in the dark, this wasn't the dark, and the fact that her opponent was the same style of assassin as she was wasn't giving her any good feelings. Behind her, her Gennin weren't faring any better, especially after their sensei faded from view.

"Damn, I can't see a thing in this!" Naruto hated it, he was use to having good vision, while absent-minded, his eyes and instincts allowed him to effectively fight in most situations. Now, he was cut off, and he could barely make out Sasuke and the Bridge builder, with Hinata at his back. _"Wait..." "_Hinata! What about that eye thing you can do? The Byakugan?" Hinata looked back at the orange clad ninja, and Sasuke nodded, surprised the dobe thought about it. The young konoichi nodded and focused her eyes, veins appearing on the sides of her face.

**"Byakugan!" **A calm look overcame her features, but were followed with a groan of frustration. "It's no use, his chakra was put into the mist, it's dispersing his signature and I can't even tell if he's nearby...I'm sorry." She was disappointed, she'd failed to help the team out, she felt useless, but a reassuring smile from Naruto caused her to forget her failure momentarily, and give rise to a light, but fear dampened blush.

"It's alright Hinata, you did what you could, I was just hopin something might work, thanks for trying." The shy Hyuuga could never get over how those bright blue eyes filled her with the feeling that she could do anything, but a dark chuckle from teh mist froze that and any other thoughts cold.

**"How heart warming, but you forgot something...that you have to survive."** The voice seemed to boom from all over, causing the gennin's spines to shake, and Anko's eyes to narrow, while she secret shifted her hands. **"Eight points..."** this confused the kids, but he continued. **"Larynx, Spine, Lungs, Liver, Jugular Vein, Sub-clavicle artery, Kidneys, Heart..."**

**"Now, which vital point shall be my attack point!?"** This got a different reaction from each person, as killing intent radiated from the area. Everyone was afraid, for themselves, or the others there. Anko had enough at that point and formed a ram seal, flaring her chakra and dispersing enough of the mist for her gennin to be visible. She unsheathed a kunai and dipped into a stance, ready to kill. At this point Sasuke felt like a lamb for the slaughter. the other two were aware of Zabuza, and Hinata could probably feel it now too, but Sasuke was the only one truly aware of how much of their life was in the hands of these two trained killers. It was like they could take a breath and he would fall over, his body already cold. He felt the need to kill himself, but someone else wanted the chance first.

"Not good enough..." The demon of the mist appeared in the center of the gennin formation, a half ram in front of him, and his sword poised to kill all four with no effort. Anko twisted aroudn fast enough to crack a normal human spine. "...it's over..." The Snake charmer leapt toward the group, her kunai reared back in her left hand and her right arm stretched out, where several golden eyes could be seen up the sleeve.

**"Sen'eijashu!"** Five snakes flew from her sleeve, their speed enhanced by her jump, and bit down into each of Zabuza's limbs, the fifth wrapping around his neck before biting. She landed not 3 feet from him, the force fo the snakes movements knocking the gennin down, and Tazuna fell back and backpedalled away. She took a deep breath, if this were any other situation she'd be grinning mad right now, but something wasn't right. That became apparent when the liquid coming from Zabuza's bite wounds wasn't crimson.

"Look out!" She looked behind her, just in time to see another Zabuza prepared to strike, the one in front of her bursted into water. He swung, and time slowed down. Any other person would be cleaved, with the arc he was swinging, it would be impossible to jump or dive, but Anko did neither. Almost by the waist, the Snake Mistress bent herself in half, her bones loosening enough for her to preform such a feat, just enough for the Kubikiri Houcho to sail just past her. Zabuza was shocked by this movement, but had no time to reflect as her body snapped back up and her kunai hand glided up to cut his throat. Zabuza didn't have time to bring his sword back around, but then again a ninja's whole body is a weapon. His foot came up fast and slammed into her gut, knocking some of the air out of her lungs, and with an shoulder charge he back her up to a tree. Grabbing both wrist befor4e she recovered, he held her up, making sure to keep his wrist closed around her coat sleeve.

"Now I'm gonna gut ya!" He stabbed his blade down,a nd grabbed her kunai for a final blow, but the smirk on her face caused alarm bells to go off.

**"Ninja Art: Viper Fang!"** Her mouth opened up a little wider than normal, wide enough for him to see a full grown black viper appear. It's fangs dripping with poison, it leap out at full speed, and with the close proximity, Zabuza's chances of living were getting slimmer by the inch.

**AN: I plan on making her a snake user in her own rite, not just an Orochimaru clone. Along with her fire techniques and such, she'll have some original moves, though I'm always accepting private messages with moves you might create for any character. Just put the jutsu name, rank, and a plausible description of what it does (i.e. There will be NO Godly characters in my story, and They will learn at a pace that's normal (or in Naruto's case, abnormal) for each person. While a bit different, and faster than the cannon, Naruto won't be able to take on someone like Orochimaru by the chunnin exams). F.Y.I.: Anko: Fire affinity, Sasuke: Fire affinity (secondary lightning), Hinata: Water affinity, Naruto: Wind affinity. Each main affinity character is able to learn techs from the affinities to they are in harmony with. Anko and Sasuke can't use water techs very well, Naruto would have problems with Earth and Lightning, and Hinata's not touching a fire move anytime soon.**

**One more thing, I'm thinkin of making a fem-Naruto story, but what do you guys think: Shoul Naruto always have been girl, or turn into a girl at some point during missions. They are both gonna be different from each other: changed Naru obv. not gonna be much different from his original personality. (extra tomboy) while fem from birth isn't gonna be a fangirl (hard knock life does that) I'll try to make a poll, but you can give your opinion in the reveiw.**


	7. Fire vs Water

**AN: I am not dead!...I think. Never fear, I simply had a tremendous dose of writers block, couldn't get this next area started right. FEAR NOT! I will continue to bring you hard hitting story from my personal style of writing. As you know I do not own anything, but I could use help with chapter starters in my other stories as well!**

Fang's, dripping with what he could only imagine as a deadly poison, were flying at him attached to one of the more deadlier snakes in the reptilian family. Zabuza's eyes widened in shock, and on instinct pulled his arm up as he tried to leap out of striking distance. That proved to be fatal, as the snake just bit into the defending arm, injecting it's venom into his blood stream. Anko stood up with a focused, but clearly pleased look, as Zabuza shook off the offending belly crawler and watched as his arm turned from its dark color to a vicious purple. The poison would drain through his system and paralyze him first, then kill him over the course of a few hours. It was a clutch victory as she was the only one with the antidote _"Gotta have an antidote when ya carry those things inside you." _She thought of her gennin years, getting bit by her own snakes. She banished those thoughts to speak out loud to the man who she was sure was as good as dead.

"It was a good exchange, but this is over, Momochi Zabuza." Sasuke, Naruto, and Hinata gaped in awe. Not that their teacher had won, they would cheer at just that, but at how'd she'd done it. Even Hinata, thought to be the most flexible of the three, felt her back ache a bit at watch their sensei bend backward at the waist. Sasuke was in awe of her agility and thinking, against such a terrifying enemy. Naruto was just dumbfounded at the places Sensei could stash her snakes, he made a mental note not to get to be within range of her face when she's pissed off. They were all beginning to relax, when the last thing they expected to happen put them back on high alert. The ex Mist nin…began to laugh?

"The fuck's so-?" Anko cut herself off as the swordman in front of her turned liquid blue and exploded, showering her in sprays of water. That almost caught her off guard, but the whistle in the wind told her hard learned instincts to basically "get the hell outta there!" As she had deep respect for her instincts, they usually guided her right, she jumped straight up, just as a blade passed through the trunk of the tree, and the spot where her waist kept her legs attached. Still on full instincts, she rebounded off the tree, so as not to get caught under it, and her eyes widened when she saw her mistake. Whilst she was a highly effective ninja, land or air, she had little control over her new trajectory. Though she planned to land in a tree safely, anything that decided to cancel that plan, say…a rouge ninja with thin eyebrows, could be very hard to say no to. So she could do not but put her guard up with the boot that tried to meet her face came up. She was knocked clear toward the lake, her orientation thrown off by the blow as she hit the water.

"_Shit, I'm on his turf now."_ Anko thought frustrated, but then something else bothered her. _"Why is this water so thick? Oh shi-!" _The slightest movement of clothing was all she heard, before the water around her rose into a liquid sphere.

"**Suiton: Suiro no jutsu!" **Anko looked up as she was now wrapped in a ball of water. She tried to move her hands to make handsigns, but not even the snakes in her coat could move to attack the hand just to the upper left of her head. _"Good work Anko, you just made a chunin mistake. Fan-fuckin-tastic."_ Anko liked being a ninja, especially because her expertise personified ninja. She was an _assassin!_ Need to chop someone's head off, she's good. Need someone stabbed in the back, she's got stabbing weapons to spare. Hell, she'll even kill the ex-wife for free!

Yet, give her three kids and an old-bridge builder to protect...NOO! _"Jeeze, I might have Elite Jounin abilities, but come on, I'm a loner for kami sake!"_ The part of her that watched these kids grow for a month, however, had a better job to do then complain.

"Run!" She tried to yell through the water barrier. "You can't beat this guy. Even if he's not more badass than me he's still more badass than you!" Now, while This didn't deter them team, as it seemed the group didn't hear them, from the corner of her vision, Zabuza, and, odd, Naruto, both sweat dropped. The seriousness of the situation was the only thing that kept either from commenting. Was it too much to ask to have a completely sound proof water barrier?

"Too bad," Zabuza chuckled as he created another water clone, "I can't let the old man go, so you'll have to die now kids...though you could always run like your teach said." Tazuna was hoping they would consider it, but the three took up fighting stances, kunai in each hand.

"Like hell we'd run with our sensei is in danger." The taller boy in dark blue stated.

"Sensei taught us those who abandoned their comrades were lower then trash." The quiet, but determined girl stated solidly.

"Heh, If we ran, you'd kill our sensei and then come for us like it was nothing." The loud mouth brat retorted, "We'll kick your ass for even thinking we'd let you do that, you eyebrow-less freak!" said non-brows twitched at this comment, he'd been the butt of name-calling before, but this kid was pushing it. The water user figured it was time to teach these kids a lesson. With a single gesture the clone dashrf forward, the speed at which it moved shocked the gennin long enough for it to drive it's knee into the orange kid's gut. The other two's eyes widened, but then ninja training came into play as they leap to the side as he swung his sword around to hack them and the old man in half in one move. He wondered why they didn't get their client out the way, figuring being kids they thought of themselves first, but he noticed there had been no blood spill. He glanced at the old man only to find the geezer just out of his sword range. _"What? That knee hit should've put me well within range of killing the old man." _He looked down, to see that the blond on his knee wasn't poised like a gut fish, but with two hands in a tight blocking position, having slid back a bit, but the grooves on the ground showed the physical force the kid used to hold him back that much. The young ninja grinned up at him then shouted.

"Now guys!" A rain of kunai came toward the water clone, from the two escapees, and his eyes widened but a fraction at the surprise attack. He decided to show them why he was an A-class missing ninja. His sword went in motion, it's speed bellying it's size, as he blocked, flung and generally cut down almost every weapon coming his way. He grinned at their cleaver but failed plan, before a ninja dagger to the stomach made him remember the blond he just saved. _"Not bad kid," _the clone, and then the real Zabuza thought after the technique began to break down. _"But I can just make another clo-"_ the thought didn't even get to process before the gennin in front of him 'poof'd' into smoke, signifying it was a shadow clone. The distracted look from Zabuza was enough for a kunai to fly out from the smoke.

"You think you can stop me with a single kunai?" He laughed before grabbing it out of the air with ease. He held the weapon in his outstretched hand, triumphantly. He was about to goad them more and make another clone, but something more sinister then death made itself to Zabuza: the smirk from one Anko Mitarashi. He gazed at her in wonderment, but the hissing from his hand corrected his attention. _"Oh shit!"_ the little fucker had an explosive tag tied to the loop end. He panicked momentarily, but even calm there was only do one thing, toss that thing away. The kunai sailed into the air, but he couldn't help but recognize the same snake like smirk the woman next to him had coming from the fo faced brat he was beginning to not like.

"Got ya!" He heard from the direction of the kunai that was suppose to detonate. He looked to see the orange troublemaker lunging toward him, kunai ready to slice into his right arm, the one holding the sphere. He had a choice: one, he could try to grab the blonde out the air, but the distance was too close and he would lose his hand either way. Or two: Get the hell out the way! Needless to say, he jumped out the way, removing his grasp from the water prison. The triumphant smile that followed absolutedly pissed him off from the inside out. The two began to do handsigns, and after Anko saw the number he was committing to, she jumped back, giving him enough time to speed through the rest with a vicious grin under his bandages. Suddenly the power and killing intent erupted from both of them with such force that Naruto, who was floating nearby, had to check that his heart was still beating for a moment, before quickly backpeddling away from the bloodthirty opponents. Zabuza finished first, the slight victory in his voice hard to miss as he called his technique to the heavens.

**"Suiton! Seiryuudan no jutsu!"** The surface rose and gave way to a powerful dragon with glowing golden eyes. it writhed and twisted in the air, testing it's new life, before turning to the, in comparison, tiny konoichi that was it's target. With another mighty roar it came barreling down upon her, ready to end her life. Anko didn't move, or attempt to dodge, which Zabuza took as her admittance to death, but just before the volume of water blocked her from veiw, he saw that infernal grin once more.

**"Viper skin wearer! Katon!"** A great fire spewed forth from her mouth, changing intot he form of a small serpent. She pumped even more chakra into it, the flames changing from a bright orange to a blazing blue, as the snake hissed. It flew straight at the dragon at great speeds, and Zabuza didn't know what to think at the moment, his element had the advantage so there shouldn't be a problem. When the attacks met...the was no collision of power. The snake flew directing intot he open mouth of the dragbon and flew down the path of it's body, it's burning body could be seen even even inside the similar colored dragon. It moved until it neared the tail of the dragon, and then it's eyes shone brightly, as He caught Anko's form again, bringing up a half ram and mouthing the word:

**BOOM**

The snake detonated, turning the area into a steam field, blocking Zabuza's view for a second. That second was all that was needed, as the snake mistress leapt from the steam, long blade kunai at the ready. Zabuza brought his sword around to block, but she slammed the blade on the top part of his sword, using the leverage to swing over the sword and deliver a shin gaurded kick to the swordsmen's face. He flew back across the water and slammed into the tree, as Anko had charged enough chakra to use a jutsu into her gaurd. Zabuza gasped air and looked up, onto to see a demon. Anko stalked toward him. He was pissed, his was scared, and he wasn't about to die here. He charged her and swung his blade trying to cut her by the torso.

It worked...but as the legs fell away, her lower half turned into a serpent tail. her eyes more snake like, her skin scaly, as she quickly used his shock to wrap around him.

"W-what are you!" Zabuza stuttered out in fright. "A snake!"

"Yesssss" Was hissed out, as she crept closer to his face. "And it's time for my meal!" She widened her jaw to impossible lengths, about to take a bite, when Zabuza's world went black.

"Well...it seems you helped me out." A soft voice came from the trees, the source of th eperson who cut through Anko's genjutsu. She let her hands down from the seals she had created after her fire technique, and narrowed her eyes at the intruder. Obviously fromt he size they were young, and the tone of the voice was to hide the gender completely, as well as the clothing. The mask adorned with the Kiri symbol told her what she needed to know.

"You're a hunter nin?" Anko proclaimed for the benifit of her students who were still in shock at seeing two needles come out of nowhere and strike the Missing nin in the neck. He was half sunken in water, and when Anko checked his pulse, there was none. She sighed in relief before stepping back for the hunter. "How'd you find us?" She asked

"You make a scene, Mitarashi-san" Came the reply, and Anko almost misstepped as no one had called her "-san" ever. "Thank you for your assistance, I shall dispose of the remains." The polite nin nodded and picked up the dead body, with a single hand-sign, disappeared.

"Hn...strange..." Anko was glad it was over, but she felt an odd feeling in her gut, and when you train with a snake, you tend not to ignore that feeling. She had no time to find out though, as the after effects of that particular genjutsu were slowly catching up, and she turned to her team with a bit of a stumble. "Alright Gakis...Anko sensei's gotta take a little nap. Make sure I wake up in exactly 6...hours..." Was her last statement before she pitched forward.

**AN: Serpent Skin wearer is a jutsu that can be used with every element, so depending on the users ability is can be anywhere from C class to A class. Anko's genjutsu ability was never mentioned in the anime/manga, but it was shone on the official Naruto databooks as one of her high points. When you train with someone that can make people bbelieve they're dead with a look, you tend to pick up some things. Anyway, comments, questions and jutsu ideas are always welcome.**


	8. Training, Training and more Tor-Training

There wasn't a sign of movement, a twitch, or even a change in breathing pattern. Nevertheless, Mitarashi Anko was fully awake in the space it'd take a normal person to blink. It was another of those techniques that she learned from her old _sensei_, to be fully aware before you showed the first signs of being awake. It's an extremely useful skill when either confronted by an unknown presence nearby or, in Anko's case, in an unknown surrounding area. She stretched out her senses as far as she could without twitching. She was inside, as she felt no breeze or mist, giving her one clue. She wasn't in pain, so she wasn't captured, or her captors were waiting for her to wake. Her weapons pouch was missing, which would've been alarming if not for the fact that she still had all her hidden weapons. Bad guys tend to search for that kinda stuff unless they were stupid. The last thing cleared her mind of her negative thoughts, she could sense three familiar presences beside her, and they were radiating any negativity from her stand point. So with that she shifted her body to the side, gaining all three Genin's attention.

"Anko-sensei?" Hinata said first, being the concerned girl she was. Anko was use to the kindness, especially since she was slowly teaching the girl to put that kindness on the back burner until she was on the winning side. Anko slowly opened her eyes to see Hinata and Naruto sitting close to her. Naruto had his Jacket tied around his waist, Hinata's zipped down half-way. Sasuke was near the door, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, with all his gear still on (Uchiha Sasuke: Too cool to be hot). Anko saw that her own trenchcoat was hung up on a coat hanger next to Sasuke, as were her kunai and shuriken pouches. Was it really that hot?

"You were shivering for a while, so we asked Tazuna if he could get some heat going through the house until you woke up. We got your coat off so you wouldn't stop sweating in it." Naruto answered, noticing her traveling gaze. For someone on a team with two eye-based bloodline users, kid had some sharp eyes on him. Probably a combination of his prankster years, good genes, and his "special accommodations". Anko had three ninja who could very well be assassins/interrogation specialist, but that was here nor there. That was chunnin talk, for now, it was mission time.

"What's the situation?" it was a posed as a question, but given as an order.

Sasuke took this as his turn to speak. "Tazuna-san, his daughter Tsunami, and her son Inari, are all downstairs at the moment. We're, obviously, at Tazuna-san's house, which is outside the main village, and opposite the bridge. After the battle, Naruto and myself carried you here, taking a detoured path to lose any tails Gato might have had on us. No signs of hostilities thus far and none of us have left the house besides preliminary patrol of the surroundings." Glad to have an Uchiha, since Hinata wasn't typical Hyuuga. One good thing about having a stiff, they only gave ya what ya wanted to know...he still needed to loosen up though.

"Alright, well, I'm up, so let's go meet the fam." Anko sat up and headed for the door, mindful that her shin guards were off too, when Hinata's small, but clear voice stopped her.

"Ano...Anko-sensei, Tsunami-san, while grateful for the protection of her father, witnessed you state of dress upon our arrival." Anko quirked an eyebrow, and Hinata became uncomfortable. "She made her displeasure known to us and expressed that she would appreciate you to keep yourself... "properly covered" whenever you leave your room, for the sake of her son." Anko snorted, clearly not caring and turned to open the door, before Naruto spoke up.

She also said that if you came down otherwise, then she figured you must enjoy the taste of ninja ration bars because she would leave no extra food for you. I heard from Tazuna that she makes amazing dango, the fresh products of wave are great for her recipe." Anko vibrated visibly, knowing she should just hit Naruto and walk downstairs without a care. Sure, she couldn't take her clients food without permission, and she could tell just from Tazuna's explanation that they didn't have much so stealing would be wrong anyway (she's not that heartless). She could've just held her nose up on it like a Hyuuga, but NOOOO, the brat had to say that. The woman was unknowingly using Anko's weakness against her... dammit!

Needless to say, Anko walked downstairs with her trenchcoat on, and buttoned up ALL the way.

* * *

"Alright gakis!" Anko had her team out in the forest, her coat open and blowing in the small breeze just because. During lunch the previous day, Anko was between glaring at Tsunami for killing her individuality and crying tears of joy for the amazing dango the woman created (If she could, she'd take the woman back to konoha to work at her favorite dango stand from now on). She had said they'd come out here for some training, while she left a snake watching the house from the outside with orders to contact her in the fastest way possible if someone with a weapon or chakra signature came within spitting distance of the house (and since ninja could spit fire, that was pretty far). Her students were complaint, but confused as to way they had to train in the middle of a mission, one they'd figured would be a breeze from this point on. One look from the snake user, however, had them out of the door faster than the bridge builder had seen anyone move previously.

"I'm not one to sugarcoat anything, so I'll just come out and say it... Zabuza's alive." Widen eyes, jaw drops, light headed-ness. These were the symptoms she'd be damn to see from the gakis she'd trained for the past two months running. Naruto and Sasuke clenched their jaws, while Hinata grasped her shirt tightly, otherwise, they were cool, waiting for more instructions, she grinned. "Well, with a new threat, I can show you new things, starting with you next step in chakra control. Can anyone tell me what's next?" She looked pointedly at Naruto, who noticed and paused in thought for a few moments.

"We're...uh..learning to walk on water?" He shot a guess out, and Anko continued to look at him unnervingly before nodding. She did her best to drill it into Naruto (mostly through violence) that he had a brain and he needed to use it. If he couldn't she wouldn't teach him a thing. So slowly, but surely, he was thinking more than acting. He wasn't a genius, by any stretch of the word, but his instinctual tatics were now getting an edge of predetermination, making his back up plans even faster. She pointed them towards a nearby, isolated pond she found earlier, while speaking. "All you gotta do is take the tree walking, and add another step. You know how to gather chakra to your feet, now you must emit a constant amount. You need to be able to adjust youroutput to compensate not only for your weight but your movement as well. You will fall in, that's a given, but before today is over you will be able to stand, walk, and run on water for thirty minutes." She gave them an evil grin, that promised them they'd be able to, but they might not be able to be happy about it.

* * *

Naruto, surprisingly, was the first to notice something was off. After all of them were able to stand on the water for at least a minute, she had them do simple movements. First walking, then jumping, then running. Anko had been near the water's edge until they started running, when she suddenly got clear of any water splashes. They had taken off their shoes for the time being, making it slightly easier, and were running circles and other maneuvers, when he glanced at his leg. His pant legs seemed a little frayed. He didn't think much of it, since his clothes were worn, and perhaps thought it was from their battle yesterday, and took a mental note to check his other jumpsuits, maybe it's time to sew them up again, or by new ones.

_"Wait, I bought these pants two months ago and just changed into them today!" _

A that moment, Hinata thrusted a palm strike to Naruto's face, they had begun light sparing. He tilted his head back on instincts honed from attacks by a crazy snake lady. He tried to go into a bridge, but he didn't focus his chakra into his hands properly, his top half dipping into the water. Hinata ran over to get him but the chakra in one of her legs fluctuated and she fell in up to her knee. Sasuke dropped his stance with a sigh and walked over to Naruto reaching in and pulling him up. He only had a second to wonder why he was grabbing skin before Naruto came up with a small splash.

Luckily, for all of them, Anko had told them to remove their shoes, jackets, ninja equipment, headbands and Sasuke's separate sleeves. as Naruto rose up, it could be seen that his black shirt was in tatters and visibly deteriorating before their very eyes. Their eyes widened and Hinata quickly pulled her leg up, but only the pale skin of her calf proceeded it. Hinata 'eep'd!' quite loudly before shooting her gaze to the two boys. Who had made sure to divert there gaze from her to their teacher. Hinata joined them in a group glare.

"Hehe, hey, you guys were doing so well too. Another five minutes and we were gonna move on. Oh well, gotta start the timer again. 30 minutes."

She was treated to the freeze your heart Hyuuga glare and the patented Uchiha glare of death, but she shrugged those off like clothes.

* * *

The three Genin trudged back toward Tazuna's house from the back, revenge plans brewing in there heads. during the last 30 minutes, Hinata's Capri pants had become a pair of short shorts. The fact that it distracted Naruto enough to sink to his knees was only partially satisfying to her mind as she now wore her Jacket around her waist, showing her figure was less embarrassing. Her cheeks lightly stained red, which intensified as she glanced at said blonde. His pants were tattered to bits and his shirt was non-existant, showing his slim but fit torso beneath his unzipped jacket, Anko's training showing. Sasuke, while not having better chakra control than Hinata, was calmer than the others, thus was able to hold his feet better than the other two. He had lost his short sleeves from grabbing Naruto out the water, as well as the bindings on his legs having unraveled and dropped from slight splashing. Otherwise he was the best off, yet still found it prudent to glare at Anko for his and his teammates benefit.

"If you keep glaring, I'm gonna double your weapons training instead of teaching you all a new jutsu." Naruto almost made it, he almost kept glaring, but the words "new jutsu" made it feel like Christmas. He, along with the other two, had heard about new jutsu, but instead of shooting fireballs and throwing wind blades, they'd been learning chakra control, taijutsu forms, strategies. Surprisingly, Naruto was the best at forming off the head strategies mid-battle, as their sensei would fight a certain way against him, and until Sasuke had gotten his Sharingan, they had had no hope of figuring it out before she gave them a good softening up first. Still, new jutsu were the words they had been looking for, and now it was time to capitalize before she decided to change her mind. Anko grinned as she started doing hand seals, which made everyone tense. No one was able to make a move though, before Anko took a deep breath.

**"Futon! Daitoppa no Jutsu!"** Somehow, the blast of wind sent them flying into different directions, Hinata back toward the pond they had been learning at, Sasuke into an open field, and Naruto towards the forest. Anko made a shadow clone to go after Sasuke and Hinata and walked calmly over to where she blasted Naruto. This should, like always, be annoyingly enjoyable...when had she begun enjoying teaching the gakis as opposed to torturing them? Anko thought on that as she continued onward.

Sasuke flipped through the air several times before finally sending chakra to his eyes. His sharingan flickered on and his disorientation faded. He timed himself and caught the ground with his hands, going into a controlled flip to land on his feet. It wasn't perfect, as he slid on both sets of limbs when they touched down. He took several breaths, before looking up just as a heel was coming down at him. Luckily he saw the arc a split second before it fully launched, so he dived to the side out of the way. Prepared for a fight, he blinked when Anko only stood there and cleaned her nails with her kunai.

_"Correction, _my _kunai." _He felt the difference in weight in his pouch, her way of subtly letting him know she could've gotten him before he knew, even with his eyes. She had been beating the pride out of him everyday since he'd gotten his bloodline. First lesson: don't try to learn her jutsu without her showing him. When he almost got senbon in the eyes at one point he learned his lesson, she still made sure to never flash hand signs with his eyes on, as hard as it is for him anyway, he was only at the first level anyway. Lesson two: a name doesn't mean much if I can stab you with my knife. That was self-explanatory, he shuddered. Speaking of, she was still poising his knife against her nails, but holding it in a way that she could launch it at him accurately. Figuring out why she was by noticing how he knew that, he relaxed and unfocused his chakra, sighing when she finally gave him her attention.

"You're learning...slowly" Anko added on as an afterthought. She never gave him a straight compliment, another thing he attributed to her lessons: don't expect any. He got enough from the village, he was glad for a teacher that didn't try to coddle him. "Now, remember that fire snake I used against Zabuza?" Sasuke nodded, perhaps a bit too quickly. The easiest way to get the kids attention was to dangle a jutsu in front of him, he was like Naruto in that sense, a habit she was finding internally more amusing. "Well too bad, you're not gonna learn that." His shoulders dropped just low enough for her to notice before he put back on his face of indifference. She begrudged him that much, at least. "What I have to tell you, is that you have a choice for your learning curve." Sasuke blinked and focused on her, curious once more. "While you'll be an independent once you hit chunnin, you'll more than likely continue to work with your original squad. You'll be growing up together, so you'll work best with each other. Now you, Sasuke, are slowly making your place on this team. You're advantage your speed, which is good for just out of the academy. Your early development in chakra puts you high then normal, you're like a nice balance between Hinata and Naruto." Sasuke thought on that. She was telling him that Naruto had more chakra than him, enough to make a difference. With those kage bushin he was always throwing around though, Sasuke didn't put much observation into it previously, but now...

"Hey gaki!" Anko whipped his kunai past his face, close enough to make a small cut. Sasuke froze and let his eyes refocus on his sensei, cursing his inattentiveness. "As I was saying..." She let up on the glare, letting her flow back into what she dubbed lesson mode. She'd slowly developed it during their first month, being new to this and all. Usually she just told them to do something and threw weapons at them til they could do it, but she would explain things every once in a while. Best to absorb the information while he could. "You have a lightning nature affinity, a main lightning nature affinity, with fire being second." Sasuke remembered that, being a bit put off by the discovery that his fireball was so hard to learn because it wasn't his main like other Uchiha. On the other hand, it justified all his hard work when he was little, so he was conflicted.

"You can either stick to your guns, and walk the path of Uchiha, fire and brimstone and all." Anko had another kunai, and it was one of his again, he was wondering how she did that so fast. "Or you can go a different way. You can learn Raiton jutsu. The hard way of course." Of course, since they weren't gonna take a field trip to Rai no kuni anytime soon, so no copying there. "I can give you scrolls, and tell you what things look like, but it'll be your own hard work." She walked over and handed him his kunai this time, and he blinked before taking it and holding it to his side. "You don't have to really choose right now, I'll teach you a C-rank raiton that you can make versatile, and you still got your family's stuff, so you can always go there for more...but you want to have a speciality." Anko put up a handsign, she must've flipped through them while he was palming the kunai, because she inhaled and spewed a black clioud into the air. it rumbled for a moment before a bolt of chakra lightning hit a nearby boulder, nearly shattering it. Sasuke took his hand out of his pocket, his mind focused in on the destruction.

"Fire's destruction comes from it's power, more power can only be better. Lightning though, it's speed, all about speed. You get a lock on someone, they'll be hard pressed to just nimbly dodge lightning." She didn't point out that chakra lightning was slower than real lightning, but still. "So...wanna learn a jutsu?"

She didn't even have to ask.

* * *

Hinata, being the lightest of the team, was still high in the air. She turned on her Byakugan and noticed where her tragetory was taking her. There was no way she was going to get dropped into that water. She spun, twisting her body rapidly into flips and twist, to orient her body. Once she came near the water, she erupted chakra from her tenketsu. She couldn't use the kaiten, quite, but the force of her spin, with the burst of chakra, pushed the water away from her until she could channel enough to her feet to stand on it. Once she got it, she noticed the wave was crashing back inward and leaped upward, into the trees above. She sighed in relief and turned around- twump!- only to get knocked into the pond by an open palm strike to the chest. Anko stood up, holding onto Hinata's jacket. "I diluted the solution I put in there when you guys got out..." Even as she said this, Hinata was underwater, so when she broke the surface again, after coughing out any water that might've gotten into her lungs, she had a small freak out to cover her body, before noticing her clothes were alright, if a little wet. She calmed her breathing before looking up at the second most evil person she knew.

"Anko-sensei! That wasn't funny at all!" Her indignation allowed her to get this much out before she 'eep'ed" and covered her mouth. Anko grinned to herself _"Finally, some real progress."_ Operation 'Fiery Little Sunshine' was working out better than ever. Anko had made sure to balance positive, but not gushing, comments about Hinata's skill, with irritating button pushing to bring the girl's confidence and unwillingness to take people's shit. The Hyuuga were cold, but this girl had some heat in her. First time Hinata glared at Anko, she noticed it a few minutes later and Anko had to make her stop bowing in apology. Now Hinata stood, embarrassed, but not apologetic. Anko simply grinned. "Well, now that you're all cleaned up..."

Hinata moved to stand up, but paused, staring at her Jacket meaningfully. Anko noticed and scoffed. "Girl, you are socially appropriate. Even if you weren't it's just you and me here." Anko hung the coat on the tree branch, then surprised Hinata by peeling off her own trenchcoat. Hinata's first instinct was to look away, but noticed the fishnet was solid, Nothing visual besides Anko's obvious endowment. "If you're wondering, they're natural," Hinata blushed from being caught. "And I'm wearing a sports bra underneath, I ain't that stupid." "_Otherwise I'd get hit in the chin everytime I jumped from a branch."_ Anko jumped down and landed next to her. "So, I know you're all big on the Hyuuga thing, wanna impress your daddy and all that, I got it. Jounin, though, can fight any range, and a few secret taijutsu moves aren't gonna help. You're gonna learn a water jutsu, hell, you're gonna learn two water jutsu, and if I can push it, I'mma teach you my most used jutsu.

_"Sennei'jashu." _Hinata thought, a bit shocked. Anko said she would, but she wasn't sure back then, she still wasn't sure now. Having snakes slither around her still gave her pause, but...the benefits were still appealing. Anko smirked at her, "We've all known elemental affinities since day 2. I know that Sasuke knows his fire jutsu and Naruto's been begging me for more...but I also know you've been trying elemental manipulation in secret." Hinata blinked in surprise, and almost did apologize this time, but Anko silenced her.

"...Show me what you can do."

* * *

"Whoaaa!" Naruto flailed through the air, tumbled on the ground and back into the air. he was gonna be sick, but then he saw it: a tree branch, low hanging. if he could just...

"Got ya!-GAH!" His victory was short lived as he grasped the branch, spun around to land on it, and it snapped just as he was upside down, flinging his momentum up and forward once more, his flailing stopped once he hit a tree, then slid down to the ground. Anko walked slowly up to this scene, having seen the whole thing and sighed. _"This kid..._"

"Gaki! I didn't even have to surprise you for you to mess yourself up." That triggered A clean Naruto rant, the usual 'Crazy Snake lady' one, she silently let him go on while imprinting an image of her younger self over him, as she had a similar rant against Oro-..._him_ when he did something similar. _"Was I really like this? This must be what a bratty little brother is like...glad I'm an only child."_ Anko heard 'bitch' fly at her and her hand whipped out, a kunai going for his cheek. To Naruto's credit of his new skills, he'd seen it coming and leaned far to the side to avoid it, but she was already behind him by the time he rocked back to look for her, a kunai poised at his neck.

"...Ehehe...I mean, what are we learning today, Anko Sensei?" Anko grinned, and licked his cheek, which he noticed had a trail of blood on it, a glance back told him she threw two kunai, she knew how he'd dodge. He wasn't as unpredictable as he thought. "Okay Naruto, let's get tothe point...first off." She put the kunai away, and he sighed silently. "Good work on figuring out today's pop-quiz.." huh? "Matter fact...good work for this past month. You took all my expectations, all of everyone's expectations, and completely stomped on them flat." Was she...praising him? 'Don't get too cocky now, You'd still get stomped by last years gennin team" Naruto slumped a bit. "But, and I don't say this, at all...I'm proud of you." Anko turned to him then and it was like she just gave him the best present ever. Naruto was one who you could tell was angry, amused, or just feeling down. The two feelings she usually could never pick out, were Sadness, and true, true happiness. The boy in front of her just put his emotions on his sleeve, and she could only blink as he hugged her around the waist, too shocked to even threaten him. She might've recovered enough to do so if his next words didn't stop her.

"Thank you...Anko-sensei...Iruka-sensei...Hokage-Jiji...they're the only ones who've ever said that to me, and I never really saw why. You're the first one to tell me that for my hard work...for my dream." Anko didn't know what to say about that, but she felt a small warmth pool in her chest and placed an arm over the young ninja's shoulder, patting it for a moment. _"Kid's got a contagious personality...I can see why Iruka tries so hard."_ A part of her she thought long buried wanted nothing more than to keep making the kid feel this happy, but she shook it off, quickly, but gently pushing Naruto back to stand on his own. "Come on gaki, you're still a long way from reaching that dream of yours, let's take the next step." Naruto gazed at her in slight wonder, but took a deep breath and grinned, ready for the next move in his training.

"Liked that move I just used?" Naruto nodded, he wouldn't forget that flight anytime soon. "How bout I teach you that, and another?" Naruto grinned wide, this would be fun.

"Alright Sasuke, let's get started."

"Nice Hinata, let's see what we can improve."

"Gaki, sit down! I ain't done yet."

"By the time we're done, You three'll be some real ninjas." All three Anko's grinned, and this time, it wasn't sadistic.

* * *

**AN: Whooo! Longest chapter yet, though, that could be because it's training and I like to ramble...I digress. I'M SORRY! I left this alone for years. I've been working, and now I've not been working, yet look for work. I'm in kinda a bad spot so I don't know when I'll even get the next chapter out.** **Forgive me on that.**

**Heh, i got some interesting reviews lately, gotta say it one or two were kinda insulting, but I take my mistakes in stride, correct myself, and correct misconceptions.**

**Before anyone else says anything: I've been keeping up with the entire MANGA of the series. I actually stopped watching the anime after the Three-tails arc. So if I make a mistake, it's a spelling error, not a story misconception...in most cases. Also, I've not gotten any PMs about jutsu, while I keep hearing about how people want certain characters to live or die. Well, no offense, who lives and who dies are my prerogative. I appreciate suggestions, but if you wanted things to go this way or that way, their are thousands of fanfics on here, I'm sure you'll find one with your preference...or make your own -shrugs- Anyway, thank you for reading, if you're still reading, and hope the next chapter comes up in a few months, not years.**


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